Once A Jedi
by stitch99
Summary: This is an exploration of what Count Dooku would have been doing during the time of The Phantom Menace. What drives a man to join the Sith? What was it that originally made him leave the Jedi Order?


The man stepped down from the podium amidst a flood of applause. He walked off the platform, but not before glancing out among the audience to guess at how many he had just touched. Well over 1000 were gathered, all excited to have been part of this momentous rally. And that is without taking into account however many more may have been watching the hologram broadcast across this corner of the galaxy.

"Count Dooku?" a voice beckoned.

Dooku turned to see the creature barely peeking out of its mechanical suit. He recognized it as a leading member of the Banking Clan. "Was my speech to your liking, Sir?"

"Naturally, as always."

"Is there something I can help you with?"

"The Banking Clan would be utterly grateful if you would devote more of your speaking time to discussing the outrageous taxations the Senate has enacted."

Dooku was, of course, familiar with the criticism. He had learned some time ago that many of his primary supporters were the great businessmen of the Republic, and they were infinitely more interested in the monetary benefits of his proposed actions than anything to do with the corruption in the Senate. In fact, he knew all too well, they would likely be perfectly accepting of that problem if it only worked in their favor.

He cleared his throat as he recalled his practiced line, "The commoner is not interested in such technical matters. It serves our purpose most to leave such things to us."

Reluctantly placated, the banker thanked the Count for his time and went on to other business. Dooku watched him go, cursing silently that he should be saddled with such a necessary evil as special interest groups.

He strode his way into the Temple. He approached the first Jedi he saw.

"Master Sifo-Dyas?"

"Yes, Dooku?"

"Would you happen to know where I could find Master Jinn?"

"This way, Sir."

Sifo-Dyas left him as he entered the room in which a brown-haired man was quietly meditating. The man looked up at him, smiled, and slowly rose from the floor.

"It has been some time since your presence graced these halls," the man said with a subtly playful tone.

"Indeed it has, but I needed to be in an atmosphere of political bondservants for once," Dooku smirked.

The other quietly chuckled and shook his head. "You haven't changed at all, Master."

"Qui-gon, how many times must I ask you not to call me that anymore?"

"I will always remember you as the Jedi who instructed me. Besides, it simply seems more fitting than Count."

"For my purposes, it was more _fitting_ that I take up my noble lineage, which I was denied as a child."

"Ah, yes, by the same means that the Council now uses against me."

"What do you mean?"

Qui-gon proceeded to inform Dooku of his current mission, from negotiations with the Trade Federation to finding the ten-year-old boy on Tattooine.

"Then we were attacked as we were leaving by a figure wielding a lightsabre. I believe it was a Sith Lord."

Dooku froze. He had learned about the Sith, but only as a part of history from a millenium ago. Surely they could not have resurfaced. Yet, the look on Qui-gon's face was certain, and the Count had not known his apprentice to jump to rash conclusions. Besides, what else could such a person be? They were familiar with all those who, like himself, had left the Order. Who else would have a lightsabre?

"I am pleased to see that you escaped unharmed."

"As am I, but I do not believe the Council took my concerns seriously. They promised that they would get together a full investigation into the matter, but Obi-wan and I were once again the only ones assigned to the mission. We leave soon."

Dooku knew this name, but he had yet to have the pleasure of meeting the man. Even in the time that their association with the Jedi overlapped, Dooku had been so caught up in his political endeavors and being sent on worthless missions by the Council just to keep him occupied that he had never crossed paths with Kenobi.

"I could accompany you. I practice regularly with my lightsabre still. You may need another hand in battle. Even Yoda could not keep me from learning enough to be a very powerful combatant." He thought about this momentarily, recalling that he had appointments on the other side of Coruscant shortly. _But I can let those go to the wayside to aide a friend,_ he thought

"I do not believe three blades will be needed against one man. Obi-wan and I are competent enough fighters, but I would welcome your company, Master."

"If you do not need me, very well. I have business elsewhere."

Dooku and Qui-gon made several slow steps toward the door. Qui-gon stopped just before it.

"May the Force be with you, Master."

"Thank you, my old friend." With that, Dooku pushed the button _whoosh_ing open the door and left.

"What? That's not true!" Dooku shouted.

"I'm afraid it is," the Jedi Master intoned.

The Count took a moment to collect his thoughts as he had been trained so long ago. After all, many Jedi throughout the ages had become one with the Force on a mission. Even he had come close a time or two. The difference was that he could not pin blame for _those_ deaths on his favorite scapegoat. "Do you see now that you should have sent more Jedi with him?"

"What's past is past."

"I at least hope you're assembling a team to find the remaining Sith."

Mace paused. "That's Jedi business."

Dooku turned, realizing that the Council was as useless as it had ever been in his day. Without looking back at Windu, he retorted, "I made the right decision."

"We would be honored to join your Confederacy, Count. We only have a few requests."

"Our ability to perform them will depend on the nature of the favors."

Viceroy Gunray shuffled his ornate clothing before continuing. "As you must realize, I find myself in a bind with the Law. If you cou- "

"We already have within our ranks some of the finest attorneys in the Galaxy. Rest assured that you will be pardoned. It would help, though, to hear your side of events."

"I was contacted by a man calling himself Darth Sidious. He claimed to have pull over the Senate."

_Darth_? Dooku rose from his chair. "Was this man a Sith?"

"Yes. He betrayed us!" Gunray pounded his fists on the table. "He led us to believe we would face no charges and then disappeared when we were defeated."

Scrambling to find a way to make the conversation go his way, Dooku said, "The lesson here is to be careful whom you associate with. I, in the meantime, would like to peruse your transmission records."

"Why, Sir?"

"To collect evidence. For your attorney."

"Ah. Of course."

The hum of his blade resonated in his hand. This would be the first time he had engaged in battle since he left the Jedi. The other figure looked at him plaintively.

"What is this about, Master Jedi?"

Leaping onto the desk between them and holding his green lightsabre to Sidious' throat, he hissed, "I am no Jedi."

"You have anger. Good."

Without seeing it happen, Dooku suddenly perceived that his own weapon was being shoved out of its place by another one, a red one. _How could I miss that?_ he thought. _I have not trained as much in the Force as I thought._

The two began dueling. The Count held his own, blocking every one of his opponent's thrusts, slicing off bits of the Sith's black cloak, and more than once clearly having the upper hand.

"Yes! Use your hatred! Come! Attack!"

Dooku knew what the enemy was doing, but he repressed the inner voice that screamed, _Don't fall into his trap!_ in favor of one that called out all the louder, _That fool! He's giving me exactly the advice I need to kill him!_

In a moment of weakness, the Sith held his crimson sword all too loosely. Dooku seized the moment to pull it to himself with Force. Pointing both weapons at his nemesis, he growled, "You will bow before me. Then I will avenge my apprentice."

Raising his hands in faux surrender, the other crooned, "You fancy yourself powerful, do you?"

Before he could answer, the Count was knocked back toward the wall by blasts of blue lightning radiating from the dark one's hands. He dropped both lightsabres in the process, activating their automatic turn-off function before they clattered to the floor.

Sidious lifted the laser-swords to his own hands. Turning on his own, he approached Dooku, still picking himself up from an attack against which he'd never learned to defend himself.

"I can make you ever more powerful. More than any Jedi could ever teach you to be."

"I would never ally myself with the man responsible for Qui-gon's death, with the Sith."

"You are a fool. This is not about me. You would let a moment's satisfaction of revenge deny you a lifetime of what you've always wanted?"

Dooku was struck by the sheer logic of this argument, especially its source. He'd learned that the Sith were a thoroughly impulsive sect, never putting thought into anything. His worldview shattered.

"You are… offering to train me?"

"Are you interested?"

"I will never forgive you. You must understand that." He braced himself for death.

"You must submit yourself to me. You are not required to love me."

This was so unlike it had been with the Jedi. True, they would never have described the master/apprentice relationship as loving either, but they would not have tolerated even the slightest hint of hatred. It was oddly freeing to be encouraged to feel this way, to feel at all.

The Sith Lord continued, "You've sought my life for a few weeks. How much longer have you desired to outclass every other Jedi? Which would you rather have begging on their knees, me or the Council?"

Recognizing that his life was not immediately forfeit, Dooku stood up tentatively. Then it struck him: this man, if Nute's story was as true as it seemed, represented everything against which he had fought for years. "What of the Separatists?"

"You need not abandon yet another organization. Join me and we can remake the Republic, purify it."

There seemed to be no logic in this move. Yet it was all too tempting. He looked at his inactive lightsabre. It would take little effort to whisk it away and be done with the menace. Could he betray his life's ambitions to achieve them?

His heart racing faster than it had ever done, even in his youth, Dooku watched as the body slumped to the floor. He had done it!

Retracting his lightsabre and putting it back in the hilt, he turned and walked away from the fresh corpse of Sifo-Dyas. This had been his test. His old life as a Jedi died with his former acquaintance. His new life as a Sith was just beginning.


End file.
